Speaker's letters to Patricia Routledge to be sold

4 hours ago

Tanya GuptaSouth East

BBC Patricia Routledge sits indoors wearing a pink, red and white patterned jacket and a pearl necklace. The photograph was taken in a bright room with large windows and orange chairs visible in the background. — Personal letters sent to Patricia Routledge by Betty Boothroyd are to be sold

Personal letters sent by former Commons Speaker Betty Boothroyd to actress Dame Patricia Routledge are to be auctioned as part of a collection of the star's belongings.

The collection, which is to be sold by auctioneers Stride & Son in Chichester this month, includes letters written by Boothroyd, Dame Patricia's CBE, royal correspondence and memorabilia from her acting career.

Dame Patricia was best known for playing Hyacinth Bucket in the BBC comedy Keeping Up Appearances. Her stage career included winning a Tony Award in 1968 and an Olivier Award in 1988.

Auctioneers said Dame Patricia, who died last year aged 96, was "a national treasure" and her legacy would continue for years to come.

Getty Images Patricia Routledge, Betty Boothroyd, both wearing navy blue, met Queen Elizabeth II in 2006 and are seen talking in a reception room at Buckingham Palace. Other guests are visible in the background at what was a "Serving Beyond Sixty" reception for people over the age of sixty making a significant contribution to national life. — Betty Boothroyd and Patricia Routledge met Queen Elizabeth II in 2006

The Boothroyd letters offer an insight into the friendship between the two women.

In one letter written in 1998, Boothroyd discussed a performance they both attended, writing: "I was thrilled!" before describing one of the actors as "a dear, dear boy".

The then Speaker - a Labour MP from 1973 to 2000 - also mixed political life with personal observations.

In one letter, while discussing parliamentary events and social engagements, she joked: "When does a mistress become a spouse?"

Another referred to "the antics of that speaker woman paragliding over Paphos" after Boothroyd took up the sport on holiday in her sixties.

Later correspondence from 2014 mentioned being frisked by security services, royal engagements and problems with central heating.

Boothroyd, the first female speaker of the House of Commons, died in 2023, aged 93.

Patricia Routledge is seen playing Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances. She is wearing a blue floral dress and pearl necklace and holding a corded telephone, with decorative shelving and patterned wallpaper visible behind. — Routledge was best known for playing Hyacinth Bucket in Keeping Up Appearances

The wider collection includes letters from politicians including Theresa May and signed correspondence from the then Prince Charles.

Other items to be sold on 29, 30 and 31 July, include signed photographs, scripts, books, jewellery, clothing and personal effects.

After her death last year, Routledge, who lived in West Sussex, was described as a generous philanthropist who would be remembered for her "versatility and humanity" and "very much a lady of Chichester".

She was made an OBE in 1993, a CBE in 2004, and a dame in 2017.

Stride & Son A handwritten letter on Speaker's House, House of Commons headed paper is dated Monday 6 July 1998. Several lines of blue handwritten text are seen with the reference to a trip to Paphos. — The sale includes letters from 1998 and 2014, showing a long friendship

A spokesperson for Stride & Son said that Keeping Up Appearances became a "massive cult classic" in Scandinavia, adding: "She was also tremendously popular and well respected overseas.

"She was still regularly receiving fan mail from all over the world."

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